This is a lot to ask for in a first post, and I do apologize for being so bold in a first post, from some crazy drifter from some unknown town...but it seems that I need assistance in making a final decision, and after careful observation I think this is the place to do it. I have searched thoroughly through Google and the forums here. This post and my "joining" the forums was...er...is, a last resort. That's not to say I can't miss something, but there you are.

Enough ballyhoo, Its story time.

I have owned 1 "Mp3" player in the entirety of one's life. Unfortunately I have (finally?) misplaced it so I can't give the full and thorough stats on it, but I do recall one bit about it. It's Very Very Old, and has 256 MB of storage. You may cringe but I have been able to mix it up so that I listen something new each day. I have been very pleased with it. It's very simple to add and take away music in it, you don't need any fancy pancy shit. You get your music- drag -drop. Bam you have music on the Mp3 Player.

For the past 3 or so years I have been eyeing Cowon. Through thorough research over many months of Audiophile forum browsing it seems to me that Cowon is the Best in sound. Period. I'm not too much a fan of toys, which seems to be the business practice now. If my Swiss Army knife ever gives me an option to "log in to Facebook" at the expense of becoming a blunt knife I might just run into the forest never to be seen again.

Originally I was going to get the S9. It was expensive, but I began to save up the cash. Then the J3 came out (called the S9's "Successor"), and seeing the improvements I, of course decided to get it instead. For one reason or another... the cash saved had to be used for other means. I recently got the cash back...as it were. The X7 is out of the question, because of its form of memory. I am very rough on my things, it is a demand, not a need.

The D3 just came out...but it seems very sluggish, and all the doodads on it I am not thrilled with. Why the fark would you want to surf the web on a Mp3 Player? They could of at least made it towards the whole "Music thing' that Mp3 players exist for and have links/dedications towards Pandora/GrooveShark/Last.Fm.

My question for this segment? Are any of you aware of an possible J3 Successor? I don't want to buy it and two or so months later hear about the "NEW Letter## has BBE4 , Larger Screen, Double J3 Batt. Life, and can beam music straight thought your eyeballs.

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Next question.I have a bunch of music. It's all Mp3/Wmp, because that is the only formats my old one could play.

I have become increasingly interested in FLAC.Where do I go to find FLAC music? I have seen Mp3 to FLAC converters...but that makes no sense to me. Lossy to Lossless is nothing short of a paradox.

I'm going to give some examples of music that I am looking for.Hierbas Ibicencas by SunloungerSpaceLion by The Seatbelts (Yoko Kanno)-and just to mix it up-Tiësto - Adagio For Strings

Those are the songs I type in when I find a place the sells FLAC music. This far I have been very disappointed.

If this post is too long to read than don't respond. Waste someone else's time.

Your post amuses me, I'm also one of those people who doesn't need an audio player that does every pointless thing in the world.

You get FLAC from ripping CD's, that's the only real way besides pirating I think. Using FLAC on a DAP is pretty pointless IMO. You would be better off using LAME mp3. It's good to have a FLAC copy on your computer though, and if you want a perfect digital copy of a CD on your computer you should use Exact Audio Copy, although it is a pain to set up.

Not to go far off topic but marvin, how's your i9 testing coming along? You're reply might shed some light for the OP. I still use mine but only once a week, most days it's my rockboxed clip that fills the short outings I do ...

Not to go far off topic but marvin, how's your i9 testing coming along? You're reply might shed some light for the OP. I still use mine but only once a week, most days it's my rockboxed clip that fills the short outings I do ...

It really does sound great, once you tinker a bit with the settings to match the headphones you are using. Seems like it's more powerful output-wise than the Clip+ too.

Lowering the touchpad's sensistivity made it much easier to use(I'm pretty sure you were the one that had suggested that in the past), along with configuring the side buttons to be volume buttons when the hold switch is engaged. I figured out most of the functions just by sitting there and experimenting, but there was one thing that made me bust out the manual though, and that was how to engage shuffle mode....that was not an intuitive process at all. But you can drag and drop to it, like the OP is used to, and play by folder.

Like you, WG, I use one or the other rockboxed Clip+ when I am out and about.....the Cowon and Touch stay home most of the time.

I think a Clip+ is a fine player for someone to start out with, unless they're hung up on album art like a few of our members(who shall remain nameless here).

Glade to hear you're enjoying it, yea the shuffle isn't the best designed system but once you get use to it, same on other cowon's. Don't get me wrong, I go out the the i9 lots when it's for longer than the clip can handle.